CVU heads into playoffs unbeaten in regular season
After beating the Burlington-South Burlington Seawolves 33-0 this past Friday, the Champlain Valley Union High football team finished the regular season unblemished by any losses.
Now, the Redhawks prepare for the playoffs, which start for them at 1 p.m. this Saturday, Oct. 26, against Mount Anthony Union.
The No. 8 Patriots (4-4) will need to make the two-and-half-hour drive from Bennington to Hinesburg, where No. 1 CVU will enjoy homefield advantage throughout the playoffs, until the title game which this year is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 9, at St. Johnsbury Academy.
The Redhawks were dominating all season against all challengers. They outscored their eight opponents during the regular season by a total of 331 points to 35, for an average score per game of more than 41 points to less than 5 points for the other side. Three of their eight victories were shutouts.
Although his team is satisfied, coach Rahn Fleming said, they’re not satiated.
“We’re living in a paradox: We have reason to be proud, and we have reason to be humble,” Fleming told his players in a recent email. “When you put those two on balance, it’s got to be humble over pride.”
Taking the opening kickoff at South Burlington, Champlain Valley started the game following its usual script, scoring on its first possession. However, this game varied from the past in taking them at least 10 plays to score. Redhawks’ fans have grown accustomed to seeing them score on their first set of downs. Almost seven minutes had passed in the first quarter before the Redhawks got on the scoreboard, an almost interminable length of time by this season’s standard.
From the 9-yard line, senior running back Nolan Walpole broke through a seemingly impenetrable wall of Seahawk defenders, scampering untouched for the last few yards to start the CVU scoring.
It was almost five minutes into the second quarter before the Redhawks scored again. Sophomore quarterback Orion Yates connected with senior wide receiver Jacob Armstrong for a 37-yard score to put his team up 14-0, which is where it stood at halftime.
The Seahawks took the kickoff to start the second half but were stopped. Burlington-South Burlington’s attempts to move the ball were hampered by a very ineffective snapping game. More than a few times the hiked ball skipped off the grass before reaching Seawolves quarterback Ahmed Diawara.
On the first play of CVU’s ensuing possession, Walpole raced 50 yards for CVU’s third score to make it 21-0, with just two minutes ticked off the clock in the second half.
Sophomore Alex Jovell kicked a field goal to increase the Redhawk’s advantage to 24-0, and Yates took it in from the 1-yard line to push it to 31-0 with 1:26 left in the third quarter.
By the fourth quarter, CVU was putting in a lot of players to get them some game experience. The only other scoring came with 1:04 remaining in the game, when another bad Seawolves’ snap, this one in the end zone, lead to a safety for the final 33-0 margin of victory.
After the game, Fleming said he was so proud of his defense, particularly Sean Kennedy, who celebrated his birthday with a sack in the Burlington-South Burlington game. The senior captain has been a four-year starter for the Redhawks.
“He is the one who broke my philosophical glass ceiling, because I was basically committed to not playing a ninth grader at the varsity level,” Fleming said.
But four years ago, the coach listened to those who told him that Kennedy was different, more levelheaded for his age. Fleming hasn’t regretted the decision to move Kennedy up, and because of his example, there have been several other ninth graders who moved up to varsity.
Fleming attributed the Seahawks’ problems with hiking and kicking the ball to his team’s defense. He encouraged his nose guards to get up and into the center as quickly and as much as they could legally, saying he told them to “get into his chest, get into his shoulders, get into his head.”
All night, CVU’s dominating defensive line was hurrying up plays and breaking into the backfield to harass the Seahawks’ quarterback.
For Walpole, the Burlington-South Burlington contest was a statement game. The teams for the Vermont North-South Game had just been selected, and the running back was not selected. Seawolves’ coach Chadde Wolf is also this year’s coach of the North Team.
Walpole said before the game, “I want to make sure the coach understands he made a mistake.”
Fleming said Walpole had been promising him that he was going to have a 200-yard running game sometime this season. He made good on that promise in CVU’s final regular-season game, also notching two rushing touchdowns.
However, on a 40-yard run to the 1-yard line late in the game, Walpole hurt his rotator cuff. Stalking the sidelines with a bag of ice strapped to his shoulder, he didn’t play for the rest of the game.
Afterward, he wasn’t sure if he would be able to play in this Friday’s playoff game. “I’m going to take it day by day,” Walpole said.
One of the few problem areas for the Redhawks this year has been penalties. There were times in a couple of games where their dominating offense almost matched its yards gained by its yards given up to penalties. However, on Friday night in South Burlington, CVU only had two penalties.
“That’s the best we’ve ever performed,” Fleming said.
“It finally came together. You know, you wait for Jell-O to be Jell-O. It looks a lot like hot, sugar water for a long time, and then it’s finally Jell-O,” he said. “Tonight, we’re Jell-O.”